EXCLUSIVE: BBC Four ‘Parks and Recreation’ Announcement “Premature”, Not A Done Deal Yet

Exclusive: Out of deference to everything that is involved with the acquisitions process, I, as Editor In Chief of TVWise, made the decision on Friday evening not to run a report, based on a single line in a BBC Four press release (in which channel controller Richard Klein spoke about the future of BBC Four), stating that Parks and Recreation has been acquired by the channel. Said line was subsequently removed from that press release and we received a lot of emails asking us if we knew what was going on.

As I said, at the time, I, on behalf of TVWise, chose not to run the story as it was based on very little. In an effort to clarify for our readers, I decided to investigate the matter. I spent much of last night on the phone talking with sources at NBCUniversal (and I even attempted to reach a number of press officers for BBC Four) regarding the subject. Those sources informed that “if any such announcement was made” (with one source contending that one line in a hastily written release was not the same as an official announcement), “it was premature.” I’m told that BBC Four has indeed been in talks to acquire the UK rights to Parks and Recreation but no deal has been officially concluded. “The contracts are not signed”, another source told me early this morning. Will the series land at BBC Four? From everything I’m hearing the answer is yes it will and soon. But let me stress, as things currently stand, this is not a done deal….yet.

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